Summary of 2022-23 club activities

Trophy	Awarded to
Colour prints	Ed Hull
Monochrome prints	Ed Hull
PDIs	Miles Thompson
Best in Exhibition	Chris Flood
Reg Mullard trophy	Donna Gorin
Best print and PDI	Mike Hall
Annual achievement shield	Donna Gorin
Chairman's challenge	Norman Price

Exhibition awards	Member
Section 1 - Monochrome Prints, Open Subject	Miles Thompson
Section 2 - Monochrome Prints, Landscape	Chris Flood ARPS
Section 3 - Colour Prints, Open Subject	C. Bev Pegram ARPS
Section 4 - Colour Prints, Landscape	Chris Flood ARPS
Section 5 - Colour Prints, Nature	Mike Hall
Section 6 - Prints, Digital Art	Donna Gorin
Section 7 - Portraits	Chris Flood ARPS
Section 8 - Projected, Open Subject	Elizabeth Bulley
Section 9 - Projected, Landscape	Graham Kurn
Section 10 - Projected, Nature	Mike Hall
Section 11 - Projected, Digital Art	Pete Baldrey
Section 12 - PDI Panels	Ann Smith ARPS
Section 13 - Print Panels	Peter Short

	Photographer	Title of PDI
1st	Norman Price	Cat man
2nd	Peter Short	Over-simplification
3rd	Miles Thompson	It came through my window
HC	Miles Thompson	Bug
HC	Phil Copestick	Changing to stone
HC	Chris Flood	Stormbringer at sunset
HC	Chris Flood	The supreme graffitist
C	Phil Copestick	Arrival
C	Donna Gorin	Levitating banana
C	Donna Gorin	On top of the world
C	Bev Pegram	Parting
HC=Highly Commended   C=Commended

11 May  - Best Print and PDI competition. Tony Baverstock, judged the competition again this year and had the very difficult task of selecting the best image from the large number of winning prints and PDIs in all the club competitions during the year. He eventually chose Mike Hall's monochrome print Zebras fighting as the overall winner with Angela Karney's colour print Senescent Astrantia second and Donna Gorin's PDI of the Blue tit third.

      

Members can view the complete table of results by clicking here

4 May  - A group session with several club members travelling to Guildford for some low light and street photography. Starting out from the lower end of the town by the river Wey and Yvonne Arnaud theatre, the group progressed towards the cobbled High Street with its historic buildings where celebration bunting hung in readiness for the upcoming coronation of King Charles III and ending in the vicinity of the castle. The challenge for the visit was to photograph:

• by looking up
• something red
• anything more than 100 years old.

This challenge was not a competiton and members' images will be be reviewed at the club meeting on 25 May.

27 April  - Tim Clarke LRPS judged 26 PDIs and 31 prints in our 5th PDI and Mono print competitions. He gave a score of 10 to images from: Pete Baldrey, Tim Cheshire, Donna Gorin, Ed Hull and Norman Price in the monochrome prints competition and to images from Bev Pegram, Donna Gorin and Angela Karney in the PDI competition.

The winning monochrome images were:

      
Deer enjoying the evening sun by Tim Cheshire, and Girl in a stable door by Norman Price.

      
Elesha in the back streets of Nafplio by Pete Baldrey and Sakura in sepia by Donna Gorin.

3 views of St James's church - Shere by Ed Hull.

The winning PDI images were:

   
Elizabeth line by Bev Pegram, and Passing through by Donna Gorin.

In the spotlight by Angela Karney.

20 April  - A presentation Travels towards the edge by Sue O’Connell FIPF EFIAP d/3 DPAGB BPE 5 and Peter Brisley EFIAP, DPAGB, BPE 2.

Peter Brisley and Sue O’Connell are a husband and wife team of travel photographers with a preference for less visited destinations. Two photographers with two different takes on the world reflected in their photographic styles. Their presentation took us on journeys to less visited corners of the world: Libya, Syria, Oman, Myanmar, India and Mongolia. The fact that these countries were often on the brink of change meant that some of their images of architecture, landscapes, documentary, but most of all people, recorded a way of life that is under threat and in some cases already lost.

Two images from their wonderful talk, copyright of Sue and Peter, are shown below.

  

13 April  - At our 5th and final colour print competition of the season Peter Merry LRPS critiqued 36 members' prints. He held back 11 images for a second viewing before awarding 4 images from Pete Baldrey, Mike Hall, Angela Karney and Miles Thompson a maximum score of 10 and 9.5 points to 3 images from Ed Hull, Janet Jenks and Ian Mortlock.

The winning images were:

   
Tyra solarisation by Pete Baldrey and Leopard snarl by Mike Hall

   
Never to fly again by Angela Karney and Late afternoon sun behind the oaks by Miles Thompson

6 April  - Easter break.

30 March  - Our annual Match-a-Print competition provided an entertaining evening with much heckling and good humour. Both teams each had 40 images from which they could chose a match and in a close fought competition the gentlemen’s team narrowly beat the ladies team by a mere 4 points. Our Chairman Ed Hull bravely agreed to adjudicate the match risking the ire of fellow members whenever denying their vocal contentions that their selected images were a good a match for the other team's submission. A good fun evening!

25 March - The club held its annual exhibition at the Cranleigh Village Hall. We had 243 prints and 96 projected digital images on display in 13 categories. David Smith LRPS CPAGB judged the exhibition entries and declared Chris Flood's print Early evening, Teton range, Wyoming the overall winner for the Best in Exhibition award.

Early evening, Teton range, Wyoming by Chris Flood

A summary of the winners for each category is shown in the table below.

12 January  - Prior to the start of the scheduled meeting, we held an EGM where all members present agreed the appointment of Mike Hall as Assistant Treasurer.

After the EGM the Chairman gave a Powerpoint presentation on Surrealism (alternative reality), which is the subject of this year's Chairman's Challenge. He outlined the main principles of this art form and gave examples showing the works of eminent surrealist artists such as Salvadore Dali, Joan Miró, René Magritte, Max Ernst and Paul Deveraux. He then outlined how surrealism can be interpreted in the world of photography using images by renowned photographers such as Man Ray and Meret Oppenheim as examples. He ended the presentation with a few images of his own.

Examples of acclaimed surrealistic art are shown below.

    
The persistence of memory by Salvadore Dali and Clairvoyant by René Magritte.

Examples of surrealism by eminent photographers:

   
Le Violon d’Ingres by Man Ray and Glove (Parkett magazine, No. 4) by Meret Oppenheimer

We finished the evening with a general workshop for critiquing members' images (PDIs and prints) and suggesting how possible improvements could be made.

17 December to 5 January 2023 - Club Christmas break.

8 December  - This year club members, including partners, celebrated Christmas with a meal in the relaxed atmosphere of the Alfold Barn restaurant. During the evening the Chairman revealed that the Chairman’s challenge this season is Surrealism. He chose this particular genre of photography as it is so rarely seen at the club and therefore it should challenge members' creative skills to produce something different from the normal. For those who prefer to produce images in-camera without recourse to image processing software, surreal images can be produced using double exposure techniques and/or art filters etc. Obviously using image processing software such as Affinity or Photoshop etc will offer scope for greater flexibility. Images for the Chairman's challenge will be reviewed on 18 May 2023.

1 December  - Roy Williams judged our 2nd PDI and Mono print competitions with the Set subject: H is for....?, ie anything beginning with H. In the monochrome prints competition he awarded images from Chris Flood (Street portrait of a Bolivian girl) and Ed Hull (Boeing Stearman bi-plane) a 10 in the mono open section and Mike Hall (Hippo stare) and Ian Mortlock (Hairy hound) for their images in the set subject section.

In the PDI competition he awarded images from Mike Harrison (Angry Lion) and Pete Baldrey (Roped in) a 10 in the PDI open section and Mike Harrison (Hoverfly on Helianthus) and Miles Thompson (Honeysuckle flower and fruit) for their images in the set subject section.

The winning images can be seen below.

Mono prints Open section

    
Street portrait of a Bolivian girl by Chris Flood, and Boeing Stearman bi-plane by Ed Hull.

Mono prints Set subject section - H is for ...?

   
Hairy hound by Ian Mortlock and Hippo Stare by Mike Hall.

PDI Open section

   
Angry Lion by Mike Harrison, and Roped in by Peter Baldrey.

PDI Set subject section - H is for ...?

    
Hoverfly on Helianthus by Mike Harrison and Honeysuckle flower and fruit by Miles Thompson.

 

24 November  - Presentation: The Joy of Seeing – An Introduction to Photography and Mindfulness by Ken Scott ARPS. He gave a very enlightening talk about rediscovering how to see things differently. It was grounded in the concept of Mindfulness which, at its simplest, is an awareness of the present moment – “wherever you are, there you are.” It is also recognised as a highly effective practice for wellbeing, very apt in these difficult times. We all intuitively understand that when the mind is still and free from worry and distraction so we can become more receptive and creative.

He illustrated his talk with a variety of images while explaining at the same time how photography of any kind can be enhanced by mindful practice, ie by letting go of expectations and judgemental habits, and how being with your camera can be a therapeutic pursuit in itself. To this end he adopts the practice of 365 photography (taking 20 images every single day without fail) but without being bound by any specific subjects or photography rules and restrictions but simply trying to see in the same way the camera sees. He advised us to forget what judges might say, or about obtaining any thoughts of peer approval for the images we create, but to learn to photograph those elements of the subject that we first saw and which grabbed our attention such as colour, lines, patterns, movement etc and which prompted us to photograph it. In this way we will develop our ability to see things in a different way. As Ken Scott says

• By experiencing fully, we bring ourselves into the present moment, rediscovering the beauty in everyday things.
• When mindful and immersed in our surroundings, photographs flow to us naturally; there are pictures in everything.
• Photography can be a joyful and therapeutic pastime in itself, allowing us to express ourselves and ideas in new and individual ways.

   

For more information about his work visit his website at Touching the light

17 November  - Tim Clarke LRPS judged our 2nd Colour print competition with the Set subject: H is for....?, ie anything beginning with H. He awarded images from Bev Pegram (Canary Wharf Foot Bridge), Donna Gorin (Primary Colours) and Angela Karney (Senescent Astrantia) a 10 in the open section and Tim Cheshire (Haresfoot Inkcap) and Janet Jenks (Trondheim Waterfron Houses) for their images in the set subject section.

The winning images can be seen below.

Open section:

    
Primary Colours by Donna Gorin and Senescent Astrantia by Angela Karney

Canary Wharf Foot Bridge by Bev Pegram

Set subject section - H is for ...?

    
Haresfoot Inkcap by Tim Cheshire and Trondheim Waterfront Houses by Janet Jenks

 

10 November  - The evening commenced with a few words about the SPA and the up-coming Inter-club print competition - how we selected images and how it was organised. Miles brought along the two panels for members to see and chat about during the interval.

Ann Smith's talk re Motorway madness included images taken whilst being driven on various motorways to show what fun can be had with a compact camera with a lens distortion feature thereby producing interesting effects. It generated considerable interest and members agreed they had never seen the like before!

After the tea break all members joined in with two rounds of open discussion of Open PDI images taken from the cancelled 2020 SPA Exhibition.

3 November  - Members reviewed the results of the one month challenge - Anything with wings. Predictably there were many images of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and other winged insects together with various shots of aeroplanes, angels and flying figurines on the bonnets of vintage/classic cars. One of the most artistic interpretations for this theme was Peter Short's simple arrangement of sycamore seeds - or helicopters as we used to call them when we were children throwing them up in the air and watching them spin back to the ground.

27 October  - Rob Bonfield judged our 1st monochrome prints and PDI competitions. There were 31 entries in each competition and he awarded a maximum score of 10 and 9.5 to 2 images in both competitions. The winning images scoring 10 were:

     
Monochrome prints - Waverley Abbey House by Ann Smith and Vintage motorcycle Brooklands by Keith Hunt.

     
PDIs - Village cricket by Miles Thompson and Grass snake surfacing by Miles Thompson.

20 October - Presentation: Nature Photography - Visible and Invisible by Adrian Davies. There are many things in nature that happen either too quickly or too slowly or are invisible to the human eye. Adrian spoke of various techniques for photographing such events with subjects covering a range of plants, fungi, insects and invertebrates, The first part of his talk concentrated on visible elements, ie things we can see and photograph with our own eyes. He included many helpful tips on the technical aspects of his photography and spoke about how to encourage sensitive plants such as a cyclamen to emit pollen by using a tuning fork or by tickling the Humble plant (Mimosa pudica) with a soft brush to produce a cloud of pollen. He said he always attempted to tell a story about the subject he photographs by:

1. taking an establishing shot to provide context in terms of subject setting/location (possibly wide angle);
2. taking a medium close up shot;
3. taking an extreme close up with a macro lens;
4. and taking many shots at different angles.

The second part of his talk was given to photographing the invisible, the things we don't see with the human eye but which can be seen photographically using ultra violet (UV) and infrared (IR) light. He said that the best way to achieve this with a modern digital camera was to convert the camera sensor by removing the sensor filter (best done professionally) thereby enabling the sensor to detect UV/IR light. LEDs in the 365nm (UV) spectral range are good UV light sources. However, the coatings on modern camera lenses are designed to filter out UV wavelengths therefore it is better to use old uncoated lenses or enlarger lenses, etc. Similarly the clear glass/plastic covers protecting modern flash/strobe units also absorb UV light and therefore should be removed if possible. Adrian went on to show how these techniques enabled him to both photograph and see what some insects see when they are attracted to flowers, etc. such as fluorescence, hidden texture and patterns, and it opens up another normally invisible view of the everyday world. Adrian's photography is clearly demonstrated in the pictures below (copyright of Adrian Davies and kindly reproduced with his permission). For more information go to his websites www.adriandaviesimaging.com and for more help and guidance www.imagingtheinvisible.com.

     
Earthstar spores and Tomato sonication

Marsh Marigold, seen under UV lighting and replicating a Bee's vision.

13 October - At our 1st colour print competition, Paul Graber ARPS critiqued 40 members' prints. After holding back 11 images for a second viewing he awarded 3 images from Mike Harrison, Bev Pegram and Chris Flood a maximum score of 10 and 9.5 points to a further 4 images from Janet Jenks, Pete Baldrey, Angela Karney and Ed Hull.

The 3 highest scoring images are included below and can also be seen in the current gallery.

    
Small copper butterfly on a sunflower by Mike Harrison and Figure on a staircase by Bev Pegram

In Memory of Bruce Kent, Peace Campaigner by Chris Flood

6 October 2022 - The club held five tutorials led by experienced members in parallel breakout sessions. Topics covered were:

• Using Affinity software for post processing - led by Phil Copestick
• How to make best use of the camera focus modes - led by Mike Hall
• Getting the most from Adobe Lightroom - led by Pete Baldrey
• Using your camera settings - led by Miles Thompson
• How to cut mounts for your prints - led by Ed Hull

Dedicating evenings in the club programme to such tutorials is in line with the club's ethos of providing members with opportunities to further develop their photographic skills and techniques.

 

29 September 2022 - Our workshop/review - bring your camera centred around an evening trip into Cranleigh village to take low light photographs. The task was to take four images in just 30 minutes that could include close-ups, patterns, details, textures, etc. It was not a competition and some of the more experienced members helped others with camera settings during the shoot. We returned to the meeting room where we reviewed the images on the digital projector. It was amazing to see the scope of imagery achieved in a location with seemingly limited photographic opportunities. It challenged many of those not familiar with taking night time images and at the end of the meeting members remarked on how much fun and how useful the exercise had been and that they felt motivated to do more low light photography in future. A selection of the images can be seen in the scrolling gallery below and also on the club's group facebook page.

22 September 2022 - We held our first club meeting after the summer break. Members and prospective new members were invited to a Welcome back evening - an informal occasion with refreshments and a chance to see some of the club members' more recent prints. The Chairman welcomed prospective and returning members and outlined the aims/goals for this coming season which will include a greater emphasis on learning and development of photographic skills as an integral part of the programme. After running through the new programme, the Programme Secretary announced the One Month challenge as Anything with wings. While many things have wings the challenge will be in how you photograph them! We will review the results at the 3 November meeting - up to 4 PDI images from each member.

21 June to 16 July 2022 - The club held a small photographic exhibition of club members work at the Cranleigh Arts Centre, 1 High Street, Cranleigh.
We received very positive feedback regarding the high standard of pictures shown including the general presentation of exhibits.

    

 

Last season's activities 2021-22

2020-21

2019-20

2018-19

2017-18